


You got the beat?

by MudkipBrony



Series: Persona Portfolio [3]
Category: Persona 2, Persona 4
Genre: And that upsets me a little, Ayane is in a band, Background Kou/Chie, Before Persona 5 happens, Gen, Headcanon, It's Gas Chamber, Oneshot, Punk Rock, There are no Ayane/Daisuke tags, Tokyo (City), Yumi and Ayane are friends and you can't tell me otherwise
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-24
Updated: 2020-11-24
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:55:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,769
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27358366
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MudkipBrony/pseuds/MudkipBrony
Summary: After Souji left Inaba, Ayane started expanding her taste in music. Now, four years later she joined the band Gas Chamber as their trombonist. People said trombones don't belong in punk rock. Well Ayane is ready to prove them wrong.
Relationships: Hanamura Yosuke/Persona 4 Protagonist, Hanamura Yosuke/Seta Souji, Ichijo Kou/Satonaka Chie, Matsunaga Ayane & Ozawa Yumi, Matsunaga Ayane/Nagase Daisuke, Nagase Daisuke & Ichijo Kou
Series: Persona Portfolio [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2089860
Comments: 10
Kudos: 10





	You got the beat?

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [To Touch the Sun](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26596396) by [Skye_Maxwell](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skye_Maxwell/pseuds/Skye_Maxwell). 



> There is no Ayane/Daisuke fanfiction and that upsets me slightly. So, here's this. I wasn't planning on making this, I was just going to stick with my Wild West AU for now. Until I got into a conversation with one Sky_Maxwell in the comment section on one of their fics and we somehow came up with the idea of Punk Ayane. I'm not used to using the non-anime name, but for this one time I'll make an exception. And I don't listen to punk rock, all I know is that the Go-Go's used to be a punk rock band and that's the extent of my punk rock knowledge.

April 11th, 2012

Yasoinaba

When Ayane first joined the symphonic band she wanted to play the flute. But now she couldn't imagine playing anything other than the trombone. And when Souji went back home Ayane expanded her taste in music. It wasn't an immediate change, she tried listening to other genres of music, but nothing stuck with her. At least until she went to the train station one evening. She wasn't sure what brought her there at this time of night, she was supposed to be walking home after practicing near the flood plain. And she was about to turn back and go home before it became even later out, at least until she heard music. Music she never heard before.

As she approached the source of the music, she was stopped. _Of course, this is a train station,_ she thought. Well, she wasn't going to pay for a ticket for a train she wasn't waiting for. So, she waited outside the train station listening to wherever that music was coming from. Ayane ended up listening to the music longer than she expected to but she was so hooked she couldn't pull herself away. At one point she put together her trombone and started playing along a little bit, just whenever there was a solo really.

Just as she was taking apart her trombone and putting it back in its case, she heard footsteps behind her. "Were you playing the trombone a few minutes ago?"

Ayane turned and held the case close to her. "Yes, was I bothering you?"

"No. Actually, you were pretty good!" Said the boy, "don't you go to Yasogami?"

Now that she got a good look at this boy, she knew him, sort of. "Are you friends with Souji-senpai?"

Yeah he did look familiar. Tall (well everyone her age was taller than her), headphones around his neck, light brown hair that went to his neck... she has definitely seen this person before, many times. Almost always with Souji. He was looking at her too, he was probably going through the same thought process as she was, that being _Who is this girl?_ "Oh that's right, Souji was in the band!" He said suddenly, "you were that tiny trombone girl!"

"And you're senpai's boyfriend," she said. It was meant to be a joke but when the boy's face turned red she pretended she didn't just say that and moved on. "Was that music you?"

"Yes... no. Sort of."

"Sort of?"

"I played my guitar and sang over it," he explained. How had she not noticed the guitar around this boy's arm? "The rest came from this." He held out a CD to her.

"All it says is 'Gas Chamber'. Is that the name of the band?" She asked holding it out for the boy to take back.

"Yeah, they have a lot of good stuff. They mostly do Punk Rock now. Hey, you should play with me sometime! Just come here around 6-ish and we can play together, you can borrow the CD if you want." He offered. Well, he certainly looked excited.

"How am I supposed to get in without buying a ticket?" Ayane asked, wondering why she didn't ask for this person's name or telling him she had no way to listen to the CD.

"Just meet me here at 6 and I'll show you. This is going to be so cool!" was all he said before running off.

For some reason Ayane did show up the next day. He showed her a secret way to get onto the platform without anyone noticing. She gave the boy his CD back admitting she didn't listen to it because she had no way of doing so. He ended up singing along to the whole CD while playing his guitar and replayed some songs that Ayane wanted to try playing along and improvising with. She'll admit, she had a really good time. She finally learned the boy's name, Yosuke Hanamura and mentally slapped herself because she knew who this kid was.

They somehow became friends over their (or her newfound) love of Gas Chamber and Punk Rock. Every few days they would meet on the train station platform at night and just play. They got in trouble a few times, once there was a police officer waiting for them to appear on the platform one night. They got in _trouble_. And Ayane loved it.

"They didn't use to be a punk rock band, but here they are." Yosuke told her once. "They're still a hidden gem though, a damn shame if you ask me."

Ayane agreed with him, it truly was a shame not more people knew about them. She would try to slip the band name into conversations every now and then. Some of the other members in the symphonic band talked about the music they listened to every now and again. Ayane did more listening than speaking during those conversations, writing down band names to research when she had the time. She tried to mention Gas Chamber once, the other members seemed intrigued, until they learned it was mostly a punk rock band, they lost interest. Sometimes Ayane would talk to Yumi about the band but Yumi only listened half of the time, if the music in question wasn't a musical or opera her eyes glazed over. But Ayane was the same whenever Yumi spoke of a new play she heard about.

One day she thought _Maybe the band won't spread by word of mouth. Maybe they just need one great song and everyone will recognize them!_ She told Yosuke her revelation and he completely agreed. Saying, "Yeah! Then we can rub our knowledge in everyone's face and say we were _so_ right!" Ayane wasn't crazy about that last part.

For a while nothing changed much. Ayane was still expanding her music-taste and every few nights she and Yosuke would meet up at the train station and play along with one of Yosuke's CDs. And it was good, it was beautiful.

But one-night Yosuke couldn't make it to the train station. So Ayane went alone, CDs and speaker in her bag in one hand and her trombone in the other. It was a boring night, not a lot of people. It was weird not having Yosuke there to play with her and both take turns out-doing each other with solos. It was all her tonight. Ayane was going to call it quits early that night, once she got through all the songs, she was going to pack it up. Once the CD finished its last track the small girl heard clapping. She didn't see this person approach, yet he was right in front of her. He was tall and had blue hair, a guitar case slung over his shoulder. "Damn that was good!"

* * *

December 30th, 2015

Shinjuku, Tokyo

"What do you mean she can't play?"

"Mishina-san she's underage, it's bad enough that she's standing here."

The bartender gestured to Ayane and Eikichi followed the man's hand. He turned to Ayane and said, "Don't worry, you'll play."

"But I- yeah, I will play!"

Eikichi flashed her a smile and continued arguing with the bartender. Ever since Ayane joined Gas Chamber there was always an issue. Ayane would be mistaken for a child, Eikichi would get offended and defend her. Or, in this case, Ayane was actually too young to be allowed into the bar and Eikichi had to convince the guy to let her in.

"Hey, Ayane-chan!"

She didn't know that voice very well. There was probably someone else in the bar with the same name as her. It was probably a coincidence. At least until, "Ayane."

Oh, she knew _that_ voice. The small girl turned and smiled. Yumi, Daisuke, Kou and Chie walked up to her. Yumi gave the tiny girl a hug, they looked like a gorilla trying to hug the world's most uncomfortable dog. Chie spoke as she was getting crushed by Yumi, "I know you don't know me that well but I knew you heard me."

 _Oh, that was Chie-san,_ Ayane thought. She only knew Chie because of Kou, and she only knew Kou because of Daisuke. If you know Daisuke you have to know Kou, there was no way around that. And Yumi, well, Yumi was her best friend! She met Yumi through Daisuke surprisingly, they were in the same class in high school. Ayane guessed Yumi got suspicious that a girl the year younger than them would visit Daisuke during lunch.

"I'm sorry..." She said as Yumi let her go.

Chie gave the girl a pat on the back. And Daisuke spoke, "You look like an apple."

Granted she was wearing a pink dress and red sweater jacket. It wasn't even remotely punk, she's been told she dresses too conservative for a punk band. But Eikichi and Daisuke are always quick to defend her. She didn't need it, but she appreciated it. Especially when...

"You're a dumbass." Kou shook his head and turned his attention to Ayane, "How did you get into the band? You never told me when that happened."

Yumi nodded in agreement, "Yeah, you never told me either."

Did she never tell them how she met Eikichi? "Well it was after-"

"Ayane?"

Alright, there was no way this was a coincidence anymore. She couldn't see who called her name, the person was standing behind Daisuke. At least until she saw a familiar brown-haired boy with headphones around his neck walking up her. "Senpai!" She called out.

Yosuke walked up to her and the person who called her name a moment ago stepped around Daisuke. Souji stood there with a subtle smile.

"You both made it!"

She remembered when Souji came to visit Inaba the summer after he left and that's when he learned of Ayane and Yosuke's new friendship. He even joined them as they played with some of Gas Chambers music at the train station. Now, they would be seeing her play with the actual band.

"I have my ticket." Souji said as he shuffled in his pocket.

As he said that Ayane could hear Chie whisper, "Wait we needed physical tickets?"

Ayane almost couldn't believe her eyes when Souji held out the ticket she gave him when she was a first year. When she made this, she imagined it would be used at a concert hall not at a bar in Tokyo. She took the ticket from her senpai and held it in her hands, it was almost in perfect condition despite it being in his pocket.

The seven of them talked for a while, it was only seven-ish in the evening. She wasn't supposed to play until eight, at least if Eikichi could convince the bartender to let her play. Daisuke, somehow, caught onto this and asked, "They're not letting you play?"

"They better let you play, you worked so hard for this!" Yumi butted in.

And just before Ayane could explain herself Eikichi said, very loudly, "If she doesn't play, we leave!"

The bartender, desperately tried to reason with the blue-haired man, "Sir she's only nineteen. By law I cannot let her be in here."

"Actually," Chie somehow slipped her way into the conversation, despite Kou's frantic hand motions to stop, "She can be in here she just can't sit at the bar."

"See! This chick agrees! Who are you?"

Kou grabbed Chie's hand and pulled her back to the group. "Please don't do that again."

"What it's true. Law and that shit."

Souji stepped up to the plate and asked Eikichi to step aside. He spoke to the bartender in hushed tones, no one could make out what either of them were saying. But just as quickly as Souji stepped in, he came back with a smile, nodded to Ayane, and said, "Don't you guys need to warm up?"

Ayane bid her friends a quick goodbye as she followed Eikichi to the back which was where the other band members were. Most of them only spoke to Eikichi, none of them paying attention to her. Except... "Thank goodness Ayane-chan is here." Miyabi apparently was Gas Chambers fan when the band got started in the 90s. Now she's married to Eikichi and is the only other 'band member' that acknowledges her existence. And Ayane loved Miyabi like a sister and was sure the feeling was mutual. "I set up your trombone for you."

"Thank you-" Was all she was able to get out before the older woman had run off to help someone else.

As Ayane tuned her trombone and warmed up she thought about some of the other members. When she first joined the band, the other members were skeptical, after all trombone was more of a classical/blues sort of instrument. Not punk rock. Although Ayane had proved them wrong time and time again they still choose to not speak to her unless they had to. She could probably tell you what was going on in their heads, 'Oh she's playing? Whatever.'

Eikichi on the other hand was the one who invited her to join in the first place. All those years ago at the train station he heard her play over one of his songs and even he (despite being as great and wonderful as he was) had to admit her playing was fantastic. So quick to defend her too when the other members complained she was too young, reminding them that they started the band as a bunch of teenagers themselves. And any time the other members or some guy who hired them to play gave the younger girl crap he would defend her.

Miyabi came back briefly to remind everyone of the songs they were going to play, the first song had Eikichi start off with the lyrics with the drummer and Ayane and the rest of the bad would come in after. Ayane slipped an armband with the band's logo onto her right arm and followed the rest of the band out to the stage. She always wondered how bars could get so packed so quickly. As Eikichi was going off about how cool and awesome the band was she quickly scanned the audience to spot her friends. She saw a boy with bleached hair and a graphic t-shirt. Two women towards the front, one with a notepad and the other taking pictures. A girl who had red eyes which freaked Ayane out a bit. She saw Souji and Yosuke making their way towards the front of the crowd. A tall man and a short man holding hands in the middle of the audience and a blond woman close by. Yumi, Kou, and Chie near the bar, Daisuke stood near them but obviously wasn't going to have any alcohol tonight.

Eikichi started to sing, the drummer hitting the drums wildly, and Ayane lifted her trombone into position.

* * *

December 30th, 2015

Shinjuku, Tokyo

Gas Chamber had finished their concert and people were herding out of the bar. The band sat on stage for a while once everybody left and Eikichi introduced Ayane to some of his friends. "Wanna join us? We're going to another bar a few blocks away. It's a chill place, the lady who runs it won't kick you out like that asshole earlier."

"No thanks, I'll just go back to the hotel."

Eikichi shrugged and slipped off the stage. "Suit yourself. The rest of us will be at Crossroads if you change your mind."

"Actually, can you do me a favor?" She never asked for favor of the band's leader, always opting to do things herself.

He turned. "Depends on the favor."

"Well, there's someone I want you to meet." She waved her hand over to her friends near the entrance and they came over, "Yosuke is a friend of mine who introduced me to Gas Chamber, I was wondering if you could sign one of his CDs?"

"For a friend of yours, anything." He pulled out a pen from his back pocket.

Yosuke rushed ahead of the group and he pulled his CD from his bag. "Hi, huge fan. 'Bloody Honeymoon' was just... wow. It was life changing!"

Eikichi signed the CD cover and handed it back to the twenty-year old. "That was some of my best work. Always good to see someone with good taste." And with that Eikichi left the building.

For a moment Yosuke didn't say anything until Souji shook him to make sure he was still alive. "He said I had good taste!"

"What's so good about music where they scream into the mic?" Souji asked. Ayane was going to have to take Yosuke's side at a later date, however.

Daisuke, who hadn't said a word since they parted ways an hour or so ago asked, "Don't bands have after parties for stuff like this?"

"I was invited to another bar with them, but-"

"You should've taken it!" Yosuke cut in, "Man I could've been hanging out with the members of Gas Chamber!"

"You are hanging out with a member of Gas Chamber, what kind of friend are you?" Yumi argued.

Even Chie gave her two cents, "Yeah Yosuke what the hell? Besides I don't want to deal with a drunk Kou."

"I'm not that bad!"

"You tried jumping over the firepit that one time," Daisuke pointed out.

"And you accidently flirted with my roommate thinking she was me," Chie added, "I'm still a bit peeved about that, she doesn't even look like me."

Even Ayane had a drunk Kou story to tell, "You ate raw meat because you were too hungry to cook it first."

"Alright enough, we get it drunk Kou is a danger to society." Yosuke said, trying to get away from his argument with Yumi (who was winning).

"Drunk Kou is a danger to himself," Chie said, unimpressed like she had this exact conversation before.

This is where Souji stepped in, "Enough, I know a place in Yogen-Jaya we could go to. Have some coffee, cool off, and catch up. How does that sound?"

* * *

December 30th, 2015

Yogen-Jaya, Tokyo

Ayane would have never imagined such a place existed in Tokyo. Granted she was from a small town in the middle of nowhere, train systems weren't as second nature to her as they were to Souji and Yosuke. Although during the ride Yosuke apologized about her not going with the rest of the band, so she promised that if he came to another of the band's concerts, she would let him meet her bandmates.

Everything in Yogen-Jaya was small, the coffeeshop Souji brought them to was proof of that. A man in a black apron behind the counter greeted Souji before the rest of them. They all broke off into their separate groups once they ordered. Souji sat at the counter and spoke to the man who owned the shop. Chie and Kou went into their own separate booth and whispered amongst themselves. While everyone else sat in another booth, Ayane next to Daisuke and Yosuke and Yumi across from them.

Yosuke was still freaking out over the fact that his favorite CD was now signed. Yumi desperately tried to change the subject but Yosuke would not let it go, even after their food arrived. Ayane, for the most part, was pretty tired so she tried to listen what Souji was talking to the man behind the counter about, trying to stay awake. At some point she slipped her hand into Daisuke's under the table. The two had not been dating all that long, a few months max. They took very slow steps in their relationship, which Ayane was fine with. Most times Daisuke would try to get Ayane to let go of his hand, but tonight, holding hands under the table, he let it pass.

Their food and coffee arrived, and they all dug in. Ayane felt much better after having something in her stomach. The conversation picked up from Yosuke talking about the bands songs, to Ayane talking about the members of the band, to Yumi speaking of a new play she's starring in. Souji rejoined the conversation and put an arm around Yosuke who in turned was flustered beyond belief. Ayane was flustered enough holding Daisuke's hand, she couldn't even begin to imagine what that kind of physical contact would do to her.

Though the shop did have to close, and the trains would stop running soon. The group said their goodbyes' and went their separate ways, Yumi left first because she had to catch the last train to Inaba. Then Souji split off, taking Yosuke back to his apartment. Kou and Chie split off too, going back to where Kou was staying for the night. That just left Daisuke and Ayane. And Ayane knew that Kou and Daisuke were sharing a room and that he didn't want to go back to see his best friend getting physical with his girlfriend. "You could always hang out with me." She offered.

She only partially expected him to take it.

So now the two of them were laying on the floor in the hotel room Ayane was supposed to be sharing with Miyabi (but she knew her sister-figure wouldn't be coming back tonight). Neither of them knew why they were laying on the floor, neither of them really knew what they were supposed to be doing. Daisuke didn't want to do anything romantic and Ayane was still kinda tired from the concert, even if she had coffee. So, there they were. A nineteen-year-old and a twenty-year-old laying on the floor, holding hands, and that was that.

Ayane liked holding hands with Daisuke because it wasn't the most intimate thing in the world. It's simple and sweet. If someone holds another's hand it shows trust. Ayane trusted Daisuke. They were both messed up in their own ways, so it was nice to just lie down and do nothing.

"Can you play one of your classical pieces?" Daisuke broke the silence.

Her trombone was here... Miyabi must've brought it back while Ayane was at Leblanc. "Ok."

She let go of Daisuke's hand and got up. Ayane knew that he wasn't into classical music, but he always supported her no matter what she did. So, she took her trombone out of the case and put it together. She briefly ran through a few scales and thought of what she should play.

She glanced over at Daisuke, now sitting up and waiting patiently for her to play. She held her trombone in playing position and took a deep breath, letting the air fill her lungs. And she started to play.

**Author's Note:**

> This is kinda also a birthday gift for myself. I haven't written any fanfic in about 2 years. So I pushed myself to finish this before my birthday came so I'd have no drafts for a while, so sorry if this seems a bit rushed.


End file.
